Carriage mechanism for writing-machines.



O. THEME.

CARRIAGE MECHANISM FOR WRITING ViACHiNESr APPLICATION FILED mAYm, i917.

1 ,25 @QYfi lPatenfsefia Feb. 12, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

O. THIEIVIE.

CARRIAGE MECHANISM FOR WRITING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY I3. I9I7.

.III. 2356fl76 Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

. ment in Carriage entrain stains Parana ornrcn OTTO THIEME, OF S'I. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR 'IO MOON-HOPKINS BILLING MACHINE COMPANY,

OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

CARRIAGE MECHANISM FOR WRITING--MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 112, I918.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, OTTO THIEME, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improve- Mechanism for \Vriting Machines, of which the following' is a full,

clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompang lig drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention ments in mechanism for controlling the movement of the paper carriage in writing machines of the movable carriage is employed for supporting the paper, and moving it in letter spacing operations.

As is well known in such machines, it is common to employ tabulating mechanism by operation of which the carriage is released from its detent or escapement mechanism and permitted to travel differential distances under the energy of the spring drum, so as to bring different columns selectively to the printing point, and it .is also customary to employ in such machines, a carriage return mechanism which may be placed in control of the carriage to return it rightwardly to a starting position.

The'o ject of my present .invention is to provide an interlocking or controlling arrangement operable in conjunction with a tabulating m'chanism and a carriage return mechanism for the purpose of preventing the release of the carriage, such as would be effected by operation of the tabul-ating mechanism, during the operation of the carriage return mechanism; and to prevent the operation of the carriage return mechanism uponthe'carriage, during the operation of the tabulating mechanism.

In the accompanying illustrations, I have shown in Figure 1 a detail of writing machine mechanism, showing some of the parts embodying my invention in elevation, and certain portions of the writing machine in section;

In Fig. 2 a similar detail but showing certain parts not shown in Fig. 1;

In Fig. 3 a detail in the nature of a fron view of certain of the parts; J

In Fig. 4 a detail in the nature of a top view of such parts.

relates to certain improvetype wherein a laterallyvDecember 15, 1914. It

Referring to these illustrations by the reference numerals applied,-let it be understood that 1 represents a portion of the frame of the writing machine, and the numeral 2 indicates another transverse frame member which afi'ords a mounting for various operating parts. The numeral 50 indicates the end frames of the paper carriage, which end frames are connected by lon itudinal members 51, and support the plat'eti 54. A rod 52, also carried by the end frames 50, affords a mounting for the longitudinally adjustable tabulator stops 256, while the upper one of the longitudinal members 51 forms a raceway by which the carriage is supported on the bearing members 56 which are carried on a trackway mounted on the machine frame. The lower member 51 carries a rack 57 which extends longitudinally of the carriage, and forms the means whereby the operating mechanisms have connection with the carriage to control its lateral movements. With the rack 57 an escapev ment pinion 58 has engagement, said pinion being carried on an escapement shaft 59, the movement of which is controlled through escapement wheel 61 by a suitable pallet mechanism. On the machine frame are carried the key-operated tabulator stops 254 which may be projected-into the path of the stops 256. Each of these key-operated stops 254 is operated by a key in the keyboard through the instrumentality of an arm 259 carrying a projection 259 which engages the stop, and which arm 59 is conjoined to a second arm 257, so that both of said arms may be rocked by upward movement of the rod 229.

The carriage return mechanism is, with slight modification, that described in m United States Patent No. 1,120,862, dated includes the motor driven shaft 220 (rotating from left to right as shown in Fig. 2) carrying the shiftable clutch member engagement with the clutch member 222 on the lower extremity of the flexibly mounted escapement shaft 59. It will be understood that the flexible mounting of shaft 59 in its slight swinging motion whereby pinion 58 may be rocked out of engagement with 'escapement rack 57 for the ing the carriage to movement. Adjacent purpose of releaspermit its tabulatingk 221 and, adapted for 00 pinion 58, escanement" 101 a position where it gaged from clutch member 222.

shaft 59 is journaled in a laterally shiftable block 224, as explained in my Patent No. 1,027,225, dated May 21, 1912, and under the pressure of an expansion spring 225, said block is normally held in its forward position with the rack 57 and pinion 58 in engagement.

Shiftable clutch member 221 is moved into engagement with clutch member 222 by operation f the carriage return key whose lever is shown at 237. This lever is pivoted at 237 and bears upon the forwardly extending arm of a lever 238 pivoted at 239. C0- axially pivoted with this lever is a bell lever 240 which is connected to the rearward arm of lever 238 by a stiff spring 241. The rearward end of bell lever 240 operates a push rod 242 which is connected to the shiftable clutch member 221. Upon depression of carriage return key lever 237, lever 238 will be rocked and pressure exerted upon lever 240 through the medium of the spring 241 to lift the shiftable clutch member 221 into engagement with the clutch member 222. Thercnpon, the escapcment shaft 59 will be rotated in the direction reverse to its escapement direction, and, by Virtue of the engagement of pinion 58 with rack 57, will run the carriage back to its extreme right hand or starting position. Rod 244 extends upwardly from its point of attachment to shiftable clutch member 221, to may be engaged by a rocking pressing member 245. When the carriage reaches its returned or starting position, this member 245 is rocked down by virtue of the engagement of a lug 246 upon a shifting plate 247 which rocks the pressing member against the upper extremity of rod 244 and presses the same downwardly so that shiftable clutch member 221 is disen- The tabulating mechanism is bf the type disclosed in my patent last mentioned except for slight modifications, in which it will be noted that a bell crank lever 226 has its upper arm adapted to bear against the front side of the block 224, andpress said block rearwardly when the said bell crank lever is rocked upon the operation of the tabulating key to disengage the cscapcment pinion 58 from the rack 57. In the instant disclosure, the tabulating kcy lever is indicated at 227 being fulcrumed at 228 and carrying a thrust rod 229 having a collar 230 adapted to engage a laterally projecting pin 21 on the end of an shaft 234. Said rock shaft also carries an arm 235 which is connected to the bell crank levcr 226 by a thrust link 236.

Inasmuch as the carriage return operation necessitates theinterengagcment of pinion with rack 57, while the tabulating oper' tion necessitates the disengagement of these members, 1 provide an interlocking arrangearm 232 fixed on a rock ment whereby it is rendered impossible to disengage the rack and pinion by operation of the tabulating mechanism while the carriage is being returned by the carriage return mechanism. This interlocking mechanism includes a latch plate 248 which is pressed toward rod 244 by a spring 249. and is adapted normally to lie in a notch 244 in the upper portion of said rod. 'This notch is formed with an inclined lower face forming a camming surface so that when said rod is thrust upwardly in the operation of engaging the clutch member 221 with the clutch member 222, said latch plate 248 will .be

cammed leftwardly so as to bring a shoul- 3 against injury if the caroperated when the lever are in engagement and key and the lever 240 to above described, the carriage return mechanism is held inoperative so long asa tabulating key is depressed. As above explained, the operation of the tabulating key lever 227 thrusts upwardly the rod 229 carrying the stop 230, swings upwardly the arm 232 connected to the shaft 234 which carries the arm 235, and thereby moves upwardly the link 236, which swings bell crank 226 and presses block 224 rearwardly to disengage pinion 58 from rack 57. This brings it in front of the shoulder 248 on latch plate 248 so that, upon an attempt to operate the carriage return mechanism, the leftward movement of plate 248 will be premovement of block 224 vented, and the rod 244 thereby held, against no upward movement. This will prevent the inter-engagement of the clutch members 221 and 222, and thereby prevent the carriage return mechanism being placed in control of the carriage.

From the foregoing, my invention resides in the provision of an improved organization of the mechanism for controlling the lateral movements of the 1 it will be'seen that paper carriage, whereby certainty of oporation is secured and injury to the machine is prevented. I

T am aware that the invention is susceptible of embodiment in forms differing in various particulars from that herein described 5.

and claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention as indicated in the intended scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a writing machine, the combination of a movable carriage, escapement mechanism cooperating therewith for controlling the letter-spacing movement thereof, a tabulating mechanism operable upon said escape.- ment mechanism to release the carriage therefrom, carriage return mechanism arranged for cooperation with said escapementmechanism to move said carriage in an opposite direction, said carriage 1' turn mechanism including means for inhibiting the operation of the tabulating mechanism.

In a writing machine, the combination of a movable carriage, a carriage spring and escapement mechanism cooperating therewith, tabulating mechanism for releasing the carriage to the operation of the carriage spring, carriage return mechanism for moving the carriage against the influence of the carriage spring, and means for preventing operation of the tabulating mechanism while the carriage return mechanism is efi'ective upon the carriage.

3. In a typewriting machine, the co1nbination of a movable -arriage, a carriage spring cooperating therewith, a rack carried by the carriage, an escapement shaft having operative engagen'ient with the rack, tabulating mechanism operable to-move the escapement shaft out of operative engagement with the rack, carriage return mechanism operably associated with the escapement shaft, and means for locking the escapement shaft in engagement; with the rack upon operation of the carriage return mechanism.

4. In a typewriting machine, a carriage movable in opposite directions, a source of power for advancing the carriage, a source of power for returning the carriage, an escapcment mechanism for regulating the advance of the carriage, tabulating mechanism for disabling the escapement mechanism, means for placing the escapcment mechanism under control of said last mentioned source of power, and an interlocking device under the several control of said means and said tabulating mechanism whereby the op eration of each is inhibited by the operation of the other.

5. In a typewriting machine, the combina tion of a movable paper carriage, means for advancing the same, an escapement mechanism for controlling said means, said mechanism including a transmission member having engagement, with the carriage, a carriage return mechanism operable upon said transmission member to effect the return of the carriage, means for disengaging the transmission member from the carriage, and an interlocking means under control of the carriage return mechanism and effective upon the transmission member to prevent its disengagement from the carriage.

6, In a typewriting machine, the combination of a movable carriage, a transmission member having operative engagement theremeans cooperating with said transmission member to permit advancement of the carriage, returning means cooperating with said transmission member to effect re turn of the carriage, releasing means for disabling the transmission member, and interlocking means under control of the releasingmeans for effectively inhibiting operation of the transmission member by the returning means. 7

7. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a movable carriage, an eseapement shaft operably engaging the same, means for operating the escapement shaft to return the carriage, means for operating the esca e ment shaft to terlocking means under the several control of the escapement shaft and said first mentioiie 'd ineans.

8. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a movable carriage, an escapement mechanism movable into and out of operative association with the same, tabulating mechanism for moving the es capement shaft, means for actuating the escapcment shaft to return the carriage, a clutch mechanism operable to render the returning mechanism etiective upon the escapement shaft, and a latch plate movable into the path of the escapement shaft by operation of the clutch mechanism.

' S). In a machine of the class described, the combination of a movable paper carriage, an escapement shaft cooperating therewith, tabulating mechanism operative to displace said escapement shaft to disable it, a clutch mechanism operable efiectively to'engage the escapement shaft, and a movable interlocking device disposed in association with the clutch mechanism, said interlocking device being effective to prevent operation of the clutch mechanism when the eseapement shaft is displaced.

10. In a machine of the combination of a movable carriage, an escapement shaft oprably'assoeiated therewith, tabulating mechanism for displacing said shaft t free the carriage, a carriage return mechanism etl'ective'to operate the shaft to return the carriage, connecting mechanism for rendering the carriage return mechanism cttectiveupon the shaft, and an interlocking device movable by operation of the connecting mechanisn'i to a position to prevent displacement of the shaft by the tabulating m chanism.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature this 10 day of May, 1917.

OTTO 'IHIEIvil l.

release the carriage, and'ln tltli the class. described, 

